(ProgRock) Bo Hansson - Lord Of The Rings (1972) (Remixed & expanded), Sweden - 1972, FLAC (tracks+.cue)

Bo HANSSON is famous for his 1972 concept album "Lord of the Rings" which came out decades before Hollywood ever made any noise about Tolkien's trilogy. The music was taped on a remote island off Stockholm, on an 8-track recorder, in a summer house studio with the help of a few friends and musicians. It received Gold Record awards in England and Australia. Licenced by Tony Stratton-Smith's Charisma label in England and America, it was also the subject of an extensive TV ad campaign that turned it into a hit in progressive rock circles at the time.

"Lord of the Rings" is a beautiful, timeless album of instrumental psychedelia worth hearing, even if it does sound rather 70ish production-wise. It doesn't feature any "fantasy/medieval" themes а la AYREON but captures the otherworldly, pastoral feel of Tolkien's work, like a Nordic album should. HANSSON later pursued with the more jazzy album "Magician's Hat" in '73 and, then with a second winner in '75 entitled "Attic Thoughts", whi...Bo HANSSON is famous for his 1972 concept album "Lord of the Rings" which came out decades before Hollywood ever made any noise about Tolkien's trilogy. The music was taped on a remote island off Stockholm, on an 8-track recorder, in a summer house studio with the help of a few friends and musicians. It received Gold Record awards in England and Australia. Licenced by Tony Stratton-Smith's Charisma label in England and America, it was also the subject of an extensive TV ad campaign that turned it into a hit in progressive rock circles at the time.

"Lord of the Rings" is a beautiful, timeless album of instrumental psychedelia worth hearing, even if it does sound rather 70ish production-wise. It doesn't feature any "fantasy/medieval" themes а la AYREON but captures the otherworldly, pastoral feel of Tolkien's work, like a Nordic album should. HANSSON later pursued with the more jazzy album "Magician's Hat" in '73 and, then with a second winner in '75 entitled "Attic Thoughts", which features a much better sound than the "Lord" album. This time, violin and acoustic guitars are added to the mix while organs and synths swell in impressive solos. "Music Inspired by Watership Down" (1977), however, was quite a disappointment and signalled HANSSON's decline. He finally released "Mitt I Livet" in 1985 but the flame had already died long ago. Having turned 60 in April 2003, he is now rumoured to be incapacitated by illness and has ceased recording.

Both "Lord of the Rings" and "Attic Thoughts" are a must for any collector of early Swedish prog, even if you still can't tell Gandalf from Frodo.

Review (original version)
No amount of Lord Of The Rings soundtracks or versions will depict the very nature of Middle earth more accurately than Bo Hansson's version. This album oozes themes around Elves, Hobbits, Black Riders, The Grey Havens, Lothlorien and so on. The simplistic organ and guitar sounds together with basic percussion make this concept album an aural delight. Looking back I can see why the Charisma label snapped this Swedish artist up. He is no doubt the most underrated artist of the progressive rock genre.If one had never read the book, Hansson would have reached some place inside you with the feel of this album. As a whole the complete work is essential listening but to highlight certain tracks listen to ' Flight To The Ford', ' The Ring Goes South' and ' The Old Forest' How could Hansson depict a world so completely and so accurately? Listen and you will begin to understand the genius at work.

EAC extraction logfile from 9. September 2005, 15:00 for CD
Bo Hansson / Lord Of The Rings

Used drive : _NEC DVD_RW ND-1300A Adapter: 1 ID: 0
Read mode : Secure with NO C2, accurate stream, disable cache
Read offset correction : 48
Overread into Lead-In and Lead-Out : No

Used output format : Internal WAV Routines
44.100 Hz; 16 Bit; Stereo

Other options :
Fill up missing offset samples with silence : Yes
Delete leading and trailing silent blocks : No
Native Win32 interface for Win NT & 2000

Track 1
Filename F:\RELEASE\Bo Hansson - Lord Of The Rings (1972) [FLAC]\01 - Leaving Shire.wav

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Track 2
Filename F:\RELEASE\Bo Hansson - Lord Of The Rings (1972) [FLAC]\02 - The Old Forest & Tom Bombadil.wav

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Track 3
Filename F:\RELEASE\Bo Hansson - Lord Of The Rings (1972) [FLAC]\03 - Fog On The Barrow-Downs.wav

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Track 4
Filename F:\RELEASE\Bo Hansson - Lord Of The Rings (1972) [FLAC]\04 - The Black Riders & Flight To The Ford.wav

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Track 5
Filename F:\RELEASE\Bo Hansson - Lord Of The Rings (1972) [FLAC]\05 - At The House Of Elrond & The Ring Goes South.wav

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Track 6
Filename F:\RELEASE\Bo Hansson - Lord Of The Rings (1972) [FLAC]\06 - A Journey In The Dark.wav

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Track 7
Filename F:\RELEASE\Bo Hansson - Lord Of The Rings (1972) [FLAC]\07 - Lothlorien.wav

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Track 8
Filename F:\RELEASE\Bo Hansson - Lord Of The Rings (1972) [FLAC]\08 - Shadowfax.wav

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Track 9
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Track 10
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Track 11
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Track 12
Filename F:\RELEASE\Bo Hansson - Lord Of The Rings (1972) [FLAC]\12 - The Grey Havens.wav

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Track 13
Filename F:\RELEASE\Bo Hansson - Lord Of The Rings (1972) [FLAC]\13 - Findhorn's Song.wav

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Track 14
Filename F:\RELEASE\Bo Hansson - Lord Of The Rings (1972) [FLAC]\14 - Before The Rain.wav

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Track 15
Filename F:\RELEASE\Bo Hansson - Lord Of The Rings (1972) [FLAC]\15 - Fylke.wav

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Track 16
Filename F:\RELEASE\Bo Hansson - Lord Of The Rings (1972) [FLAC]\16 - Playing Downhill Into The Downs.wav

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Track 17
Filename F:\RELEASE\Bo Hansson - Lord Of The Rings (1972) [FLAC]\17 - Wandering Song.wav

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Track 18
Filename F:\RELEASE\Bo Hansson - Lord Of The Rings (1972) [FLAC]\18 - Excursion With Complications (Part One).wav

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Track 19
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Track 20
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Track 21
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Track 22
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Track 23
Filename F:\RELEASE\Bo Hansson - Lord Of The Rings (1972) [FLAC]\23 - A Happy Prank.wav

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No errors occured

End of status report

22 - Rabbit Music - Fiver.flac:b3f1ef7c0675dd37c1aadde8f318c37a
23 - A Happy Prank.flac:f7ec686fc68db41499b45d0ca046ad9b
01 - Leaving Shire.flac:7a07965bbebc64a16d2304c3653b0ae9
02 - The Old Forest & Tom Bombadil.flac:5b22d16c8ba876dccc55ac77f5824973
03 - Fog On The Barrow-Downs.flac:c3e94b40b6ad47e1b526f39e331e53ff
04 - The Black Riders & Flight To The Ford.flac:61e0f2fb641cb9f07781f5b166f2a6f8
05 - At The House Of Elrond & The Ring Goes South.flac:2d473347fbc070886c8643438284aba9
06 - A Journey In The Dark.flac:52b59fd4eb93ec31d804fe4abeba7b5b
07 - Lothlorien.flac:19d5924616ec9d86249a79dc559eefc8
08 - Shadowfax.flac:2786442a062655e149184ff5e653980c
09 - The Horns Of Rohan & The Battle Of The Pelennor Fields.flac:043f88cb38df74451703fb8731202240
10 - Dreams In The House Of Healing.flac:72d803cdaf7b2a3bc562ab31c310db86
11 - Homeward Bound & The Scouring Of The Shire.flac:24879e65cbf321d54021598bd7dc9d40
12 - The Grey Havens.flac:890ff317843ab0a11191614b8bc64064
13 - Findhorn's Song.flac:42a2aad3f4b4766a3c521a3439c05095
14 - Before The Rain.flac:e206bdda0532d7e648772416c1c59371
15 - Fylke.flac:be39ae0b086906c994b3b96bddbfc904
16 - Playing Downhill Into The Downs.flac:0d25656bfd2db6499041be47b163c437
17 - Wandering Song.flac:ce94e9ee3589ab3bfaa6b3faa9ff4c8b
18 - Excursion With Complications (Part One).flac:a40d7eb99b63b96f55b3a012e9dda43e
19 - Rabbit Music - Intro.flac:998fe48517b8a9808c804010480e8a53
20 - Attic Thoughts - Repose.flac:ae8fdc9ef44b7974704b72a30a81b59d
21 - Attic Thoughts - Wandering.flac:f9cf96a904b19be842e4002174f6f57b